Deuxième Rapport Du Gouvernement Suisse
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Strasbourg, 31 January 2007 ACFC/SR/II(2007)002 Original language of receipt: French SECOND REPORT SUBMITTED BY SWITZERLAND PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 25, PARAGRAPH 1 OF THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES (received 31 January 2007) The Swiss Government’s Second Report on implementation of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities January 2007 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................5 A. General remarks .........................................................................................................5 B. Latest relevant statistical data.....................................................................................6 I. PART ONE .....................................................................................................................9 A. Publicising the results of the first monitoring cycle ......................................................9 B. Follow-up activities at national, regional and local levels...........................................10 C. Steps taken to improve participation by members of civil society in the process of implementing the Framework Convention.........................................................................11 D. Steps taken to continue the dialogue in progress with the Advisory Committee ........11 II. PART TWO...................................................................................................................13 A. General presentation of the measures taken to act on the Committee of Ministers’ conclusions.......................................................................................................................13 B. Article-by-article presentation of the measures taken in response to the main comments contained in the Advisory Committee’s Opinion...............................................14 ARTICLE 3 ...................................................................................................................14 1. Personal scope of the Framework Convention ..............................................14 ARTICLE 4 ...................................................................................................................16 1. Fuller legislation covering discrimination .......................................................17 2. More systematic collection of statistical data on discrimination......................18 3. The situation of Travellers .............................................................................22 ARTICLE 5 ...................................................................................................................23 1. The position of Romansh and Italian in the canton of Graubünden: federal measures..................................................................................................................23 2. The situation of Travellers .............................................................................24 2.1 Stopping places and transit sites...................................................................24 2.1.1 Present situation, needs, and obstacles to creating new sites ..............24 2.1.2 Travellers’ position vis-à-vis the present situation .................................26 2.1.3 Federal Court case-law.........................................................................26 2.1.4 The Federal Council’s report on the situation of Travellers in Switzerland 27 2.1.5 Current measures at federal level.........................................................31 2.1.6 Recent activities of the “A Future for Swiss Travellers” foundation and of the Association of Travellers (“Radgenossenschaft der Landstrasse”)................32 2.1.7 Current measures and proposed solutions at cantonal level.................33 2.2 Itinerant trading .............................................................................................36 2.3 Children’s schooling ......................................................................................36 ARTICLE 6 ...................................................................................................................37 1. Tolerance of Travellers..................................................................................37 2. Naturalisation procedures..............................................................................38 ARTICLE 9 ...................................................................................................................38 1. Situation of the Romansh print media............................................................39 2. Needs of the Traveller community in the media field .....................................39 ARTICLE 10 .................................................................................................................40 1. Use of Italian in relations with the federal administrative authorities ..............40 2. Use of a minority language in relations with the administrative authorities within the canton.......................................................................................................42 ARTICLE 11 .................................................................................................................45 3 1. Language of private signs in the canton of Graubünden................................45 ARTICLE 12 .................................................................................................................46 1. Fostering knowledge of the history and concerns of the Jewish community in Switzerland and of phenomena connected with anti-Semitism..................................46 2. Promoting the language and culture of Travellers..........................................47 ARTICLE 13 .................................................................................................................48 1. Language of instruction in private schools.....................................................49 ARTICLE 14 .................................................................................................................50 1. Language of primary education in multilingual cantons: permission to receive instruction in a minority language..............................................................................51 2. Determination of the language of instruction in state primary schools in Graubünden municipalities........................................................................................52 3. Bilingual instruction .......................................................................................53 ARTICLE 15 .................................................................................................................55 1. Participation in social and economic life by persons belonging to linguistic minorities ..................................................................................................................55 2. Participation mechanisms for Travellers ........................................................56 III. PART THREE Specific questions to Switzerland 4 INTRODUCTION A. General remarks 1. Switzerland ratified the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities on 21 October 1998. The Framework Convention came into force in Switzerland on 1 February 1999. On 16 May 2001, the Swiss Government delivered its state report for the first monitoring cycle of the Framework Convention. On 10 December 2003, the Committee of Ministers adopted Resolution ResCMN(2003)13 on the implementation of the Framework Convention by Switzerland. On 22 June 2004, the President of the Advisory Committee sent Switzerland, through its Permanent Representative in Strasbourg, a country- specific questionnaire that had been adopted by the Committee at its meeting of 24 May 2004. 2. Switzerland presents its second state report below. This has been drafted in accordance with the “Outline for state reports to be submitted under the second monitoring cycle” adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 15 January 2003. It therefore focuses on measures taken to act on the Committee of Ministers’ conclusions at the end of the first cycle and on the main article-by-article comments in the Opinion of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention dated 20 February 2003. 3. This second report has been compiled on the basis of contributions from various departments of the federal administration, in particular: on behalf of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs: the Directorate of International Public Law (DDIP, which co-ordinated the contributions and wrote the report); the Directorate of Political Affairs, Division I (Council of Europe Section) and Division IV (Human Rights Policy Section); and Switzerland’s Permanent Representation to the Council of Europe; on behalf of the Federal Department of Home Affairs: the Federal Office of Culture; the Service for Combating Racism; and the Federal Statistical Office; the Federal Commission against Racism; on behalf of the Federal Department of Justice and Police: the Federal Office of Justice and the Federal Office for Migration; on behalf of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs: the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and the Federal Veterinary Office; on behalf of the Federal Department of Finance: the Federal Office of Personnel; on behalf of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications: the Federal Office for Spatial Development.